In the war against terrorism, it is more or less recognized by law enforcement and other anti-terrorist agencies that there is a critical range at which to engage a terrorist in many hostage recovery operations. This range is on the order of seven meters, or about twenty-two feet, in which a volume of fire must traverse a closed, short space. In this type of setting, there is an obvious need for some sort of weapon or weapon system to "neutralize" terrorists and to take them out without harming hostages. Conventional small caliber ammunition may be ineffective since the single slug delivered to a target area (i.e., the terrorist) may often be insufficient for "taking out" the terrorist to recover the hostage.
There have been proposed multiple projectile cartridges that deliver multiple slugs to a target area instead of just one. However, numerous problems have plagued the multiple rounds developed over the years. One such problem is that these rounds fail to feature a tight, accurate bullet dispersal pattern, i.e., high ballistic integrity, required for practical use. In other words, at a distance of about seven meters, a tight, accurate bullet dispersal pattern or high ballistic integrity as the term is used herein may be defined as the ability of substantially all the multiple projectiles within the cartridge to hit within an area the size of a three-by-five card so as to provide the tight, accurate bullet dispersal pattern required for practical use.
Equally important as the ability of the multiple projectile round to provide a tight, accurate bullet dispersal pattern to maintain ballistic integrity is the capability of delivering multiple projectiles each having sufficient striking energy to cause injury to the target upon impact.
In a multiple projectile cartridge, tests of good performance include a determination of whether all the projectiles will strike within a given target area at a given range, how hard in terms of pounds of striking energy each projectile will hit the target at a given range, and how short is the "shot string" as measured between the leading projectile and the last projectile in flight at the time the lead projectile strikes the target at a given range. Within the environment of anti-terrorism, it is critical that all the projectiles strike the target area, that each projectile will strike the target with as much energy as possible, and that the shot string be as short as possible so that the projectiles will reach the target at approximately the same time.
In the design of a multiple projectile cartridge and to achieve the foregoing objects, it is necessary to minimize distortion of the individual projectiles as occurs immediately upon firing the cartridge to avoid poor performance. Projectile distortion, and in some instances the welding together thereof as may also occur, is largely attributed to the tremendous force with which each projectile initially presses against its adjacent projectiles as the charge is fired, the pressure being initially exerted on the projectiles nearest the charge and progressively on the remainder of the projectiles in the forward direction. It is generally thought that the rearwardmost projectiles in the string are subjected to greater distortion, and therefore have a greater tendency to disperse from the string upon leaving the gun, and further tend to travel at lower velocity than the more nearly spherical projectiles which are forward thereof, the latter effect tending to lengthen the shot string and reduce the amount of energy with which the projectiles strike the target.
It is accordingly one object of the present invention to provide a muliple projectile cartridge for a handgun in which the mass of the projectiles is optimized so that each projectile strikes the target with high energy and in a tight, accurate projectile dispersal pattern required for practical use.
Another object is to provide a multiple projectile cartridge round having high ballistic integrity.
Another object is to provide a multiple projectile cartridge in the form of .38 cal. and .357 Magnum cal. cartridges discharged from a handgun in a single row shot string having more or less controlled trajectory characteristics in flight to the target.
Another object is to provide a multiple projectile cartridge capable of reliable operation and which does not cause groove fouling.
Another object is to provide a multiple projectile cartridge that may be easily and economically manufactured.